At five in the evening, the Duke of Wellington arrived on the memorable field of WATERLOO, which he had long before fixed as the position in which he had, in certain events, determined to make a stand for covering Brussels. The scene of this celebrated action must be familiar to most readers, either from description or recollection. The English army occupied a chain of heights, extending from a ravine and village, termed Merke Braine, on the right, to a hamlet called Ter la Haye, on the left. Corresponding to this chain of heights there runs one somewhat parallel to them, on which the French were posted. A small valley winds between them of various breadth at different points, but not generally exceeding half a mile. The declivity on either side into the valley has a varied, but on the whole a gentle slope, diversified by a number of undulating irregularities of ground. The field is crossed by two highroads, or causeways, both leading to Brussels--one from Charleroi through Quatre-bras and Genappe, by which the British army had just retreated, and another from Nivelles. These roads traverse the valley, and meet behind the village of Mont St. Jean, which was in the rear of the British army. The farm-house of Mont St. Jean, which must be carefully distinguished from the hamlet, was much closer to the rear of the British than the latter. On the Charleroi causeway in front of the line, there is another farm-house, called La Haye Sainte, situated nearly at the foot of the declivity leading into the valley. On the opposite chain of eminences, a village called La Belle Alliance gives name to the range of heights. It exactly fronts Mont St. Jean, and these two points formed the respective centres of the French and English positions. An old-fashioned Flemish villa, called Goumont, or Hougomont, stood in the midst of the valley, surrounded with gardens, offices, and a wood, about two acres in extent, of tall beech-trees. Behind the heights of Mont St. Jean, the ground again sinks into a hollow, which served to afford some sort of shelter to the second line of the British. In the rear of this second valley, is the great and extensive forest of Soignies, through which runs the causeway to Brussels. On that road, two miles in the rear of the British army, is placed the small town of Waterloo. FOOTNOTES: [133] Las Cases, tom. ii., p. 276. [134] "The madmen! a moment of prosperity has blinded them. The oppression and humiliation of the French people are beyond their power: if they enter France, they will there find their tomb. Soldiers! we have forced marches to make, battles to fight, hazards to run; but, with firmness, victory will be ours: the rights, honour, and happiness of our country will be reconquered. To every Frenchman who has any heart, the moment is arrived--to conquer or to die!"--_Moniteur, June 17._ [135] The reader will find this statement corrected, on some points, in a note of chap. lxxxix., _post_. [136] Blucher's Official Report.